Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09PESHAWAR197
2009-10-07 03:54:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Peshawar
Cable title:  

FATA MNAS CLOSE TO AGREEMENT WITH GOVERNMENT

Tags:  PGOV PREL PTER PK 
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P 070354Z OCT 09
FM AMCONSUL PESHAWAR
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8230
INFO AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 
AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 
AMCONSUL KARACHI PRIORITY 
AMCONSUL LAHORE PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 
USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 
NSC WASHINGTON DC
CIA WASHDC
DIA WASHINGTON DC
SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL
C O N F I D E N T I A L PESHAWAR 000197 


E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/7/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PK
SUBJECT: FATA MNAS CLOSE TO AGREEMENT WITH GOVERNMENT

REF: A) ISLAMABAD 2382; B) PESHAWAR 194

CLASSIFIED BY: Candace Putnam, Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate
Peshawar.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L PESHAWAR 000197


E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/7/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PK
SUBJECT: FATA MNAS CLOSE TO AGREEMENT WITH GOVERNMENT

REF: A) ISLAMABAD 2382; B) PESHAWAR 194

CLASSIFIED BY: Candace Putnam, Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate
Peshawar.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (C) Summary. FATA Caucus leader Munir Orakzai told PO
October 4 that Prime Minister Gilani had agreed to satisfy key
grievances that had prompted the FATA ministers' resignation
from the government (ref A). The government, which Orakzai said
had reneged on promises of increased development funding for the
FATA, had just delivered two tranches of funds amounting to a
total of 2.1 billion rupees ($25.2 million),and it had
committed to restoration of further development funding to the
FATA by January. Gilani had allayed FATA parliamentarians'
concerns about the potential installation of a new Northwest
Frontier Province (NWFP) governor; the current governor and
current 11th Corps commander both will be staying on at least
until the conclusion of the pending Waziristan operation.
Orakzai appears to have leveraged the government's concern about
a potential challenge from Nawaz Sharif to extract solid
concessions from the government at no cost to his caucus, which
even declined Gilani's request that they support the upcoming
Waziristan operation in return. End summary.


FATA Grievances
--------------


2. (C) In an October 4 meeting the leader of the National
Assembly's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Caucus
Munir Orakzai told PO that the resignation of three FATA
parliamentarians from their ministerial positions and threatened
alignment of 15 with the opposition had been an attempt to force
government action on several longstanding FATA grievances.
Based on his October 2 meeting with Prime Minister Gilani, he
said, these grievances appeared to be close to a satisfactory
resolution. He indicated, however, that he would keep up the
pressure until he could verify that the government would honor
its commitments.


3. (C) Primary among the FATA parliamentarians' grievances were
unfulfilled promises for development spending on the FATA, which
Orakzai said had made the FATA parliamentarians look foolish and
ineffective. According to Orakzai, the GOP promised 34 billion
rupees ($540 million) for development work; however, the 2008-9
budget had only totaled 8.56 billion rupees ($103 million) - and

2.28 billion ($27.3 million) rupees of this sum had been
diverted to other priorities during the year. To add insult to
injury, Orakzai said, President Zardari had promised earlier
this year to double development spending in the FATA for the
2009-10 budgetary year, only to reveal a budget in which
development spending had increased by just 18 percent.


4. (C) Similarly, Orakzai said, the government had promised a
special 2.5 billion-rupee ($30 million) package for electricity
in the FATA, but then cut the package to 1 billion rupees ($12
million); in the end, it had delivered only 600 million rupees
($7.2 million) of that package. FATA residents felt
disadvantaged in other ways as well; Orakzai claimed that
victims of terrorism from the FATA received less than half of
the compensation that residents of other parts of Pakistan
received. All of these failures by the federal government,
according to Orakzai, had caused FATA residents to blame the
MNAs for pocketing the difference between the amount of spending
to which they felt entitled (based on federal government
promises or the standards of their neighbors) and that which
they were actually receiving.


5. (C) Outside of perceived spending discrepancies, Orakzai
said, the FATA parliamentarians felt that they had been
insufficiently consulted on several issues pertaining to their
area. These issues included appointment of Political Agents
based on candidates suggested by the Awami National Party (ANP)
that rules the NWFP, the potential appointment of a new governor
for the Northwest Frontier Province (who as the President's
representative has full authority over the FATA),and military
operations in the FATA - particularly the ongoing operation in
the Khyber Agency. (Note: A journalist contact of the
consulate, in a separate conversation, added one further
grievance: the government's failure to provide any of the FATA
MNAs the houses they had been promised in return for their
support for the government's preferred FATA senatorial
candidates when the senate seats turned over in early 2009. End
note.)


Government Commits More Funds
--------------


6. (C) Orakzai claimed that the federal government had now made
steps toward sufficiently addressing these grievances for the
time being. He passed a copy of an official fax declaring the
government's intention to return the 2.28 billion rupees ($27.3
million) diverted from the 2008-9 budget and to add several
billion rupees in additional funding to the amount proposed for
the 2009-2010 FATA development budget. Orakzai said that 75
percent of the diverted 2008-9 money (1.7 billion rupees - $20.4
million) had already been released by the federal government for
development spending. The government had also released the
remaining 400 million rupees ($4.8 million) of its electricity
package. (Note: the FATA Secretariat's chief financial officer
confirmed the outlines of this package to the PO on October 5
and said he was now racing to complete development projects
before the onset of winter; the money must be spent by the end
of the GOP fiscal year on June 30.)


Governor to Stay; Waziristan Operation to Go Ahead
-------------- --------------


7. (C) The question of consultation on a potential new NWFP
governor, Orakzai admitted, was at this point not really an
issue, as current Governor Owais Ghani would be staying on.
Orakzai confirmed that 11th Corps Commander LTG Masood Aslam
would be staying on in his current position for another year
until the impending campaign in Waziristan had concluded (ref
B),and said that Masood had agreed to the extension only on
condition that Ghani remain governor through the end of his
tour. Nonetheless, Gilani had given the FATA parliamentarians
guarantees that they would be consulted at such time as the
government did in fact move to change governors. Orakzai said
he did not support the proposed candidate to replace Ghani,
retiring Lt. General Hamid Khan, primarily because the governor
should not be a military man. (Note: the fact that the ANP is
supporting Khan's appointment is no doubt another reason for
Orakzai's opposition.)


8. (C) In return for these commitments by the government,
Orakzai said, Gilani had asked only that the FATA
parliamentarians publicly express their support for the upcoming
Waziristan operation. The FATA parliamentarians had refused to
do this, though Orakzai said that their refusal to commit was
based more on fear of militants' retaliation against the members
and their families rather than on actual opposition to the
operation, which he personally supported. Orakzai did not
indicate any commitment by the government regarding the ongoing
operation in Khyber.


9. (C) Orakzai confirmed reports from Embassy Kabul that the
ongoing dispute between Shi'a Turi and Sunni Bushara tribes
continued to spill across Paktiya-Kurram border into Orakzai's
constituency. However, Orakzai said he believed that less than
1,000 Bushara, including women and children, would likely cross
over to Sadda, in Lower Kurram. If the Turi actually granted
safe passage, the Bushara would be warmly welcomed and taken
care of by their fellow tribesman, he predicted. He dismissed
reports of Bushara-Taliban ties, although when pressed agreed
that there were notable pockets of militant control in Kurram
Agency.


10. (C) Comment: Without ceding anything in exchange, Orakzai
appears to have skillfully exploited rumors that Nawaz Sharif
might try to bring down the government to wrest concessions out
of a Pakistan People's Party government that cannot afford to
lose FATA's current 11 National Assembly votes. However, a full
reconciliation between the government and FATA parliamentarians
may be unlikely as long as the current military operation in
Khyber continues; that operation is the primary grievance of
Hamidullah Jan Afridi, the other ringleader of the FATA walkout,
who is under pressure from targeted warlord Mangal Bagh. End
comment.


PUTNAM